When we lived in Ukraine there was a ministry we worked closely with other than the Widow’s House. It was called Angelina and is now called Hope. It was one of the two ministries that was pro life. This ministry had a unique approach.
First of all I must tell you that children raised in an orphanage never learn life skills. They go to school and learn reading a writing and stuff like that but they are never taught how to make a bed or cook a meal or do the dishes. Absolutely nothing practical to live outside the orphanage. At age eighteen they have to leave the orphanage. They are not prepared to live at all. So a lot of the girls turn to prostitution mostly for food and a roof over their head. Continue reading →
When we lived overseas we wore many different hats and did many different things. When we lived in the village we decided to have a summer camp for the children of the village. Now in the former Soviet Union camps are a very big thing. It isn’t camp as we think of camp here in the states. It is more like a day camp. It is a place where the children come, have fun and learn about Jesus’ saving power. We were friends with a group from One Mission Society who were ministering in Kiev. We contacted them and asked them if they would come and hold a camp for the kids in our village. Continue reading →
When we lived in Chervonoarmeysk, Ukraine we simply had to have a car. It was a town of about five thousand people and had a couple of small grocery stores and one restaurant with a limited menu. The biggest town was about an hour away. We had worked with a church in Zhytomer and the pastor of the church helped us find a car. The church also helped us keep it legal so we had all the right stickers. Continue reading →
I wrote some time ago about the Bedouins. They are a nomadic group of people who live in the Israeli /Palestinian area. They are neither Israeli nor Palestinian. However, most of them are cultural Muslims because that is what has been in the area for a long, long time. We had a couple of Bedouin ladies who came to the Jesus House for the Bible Study. Continue reading →
Living overseas introduces one to a whole new culture. When we lived in Chervonoarmeysk (also known as Pulin) we attended a funeral. One morning we heard that a woman and her son were hit and killed the night before while riding their bicycles home. The daughter of the woman came to the Widow’s House regularly for computer classes. We figured we needed to pay our respects so we went with Nadia the teacher of the computer classes. Continue reading →
When you have music playing in Palestine you are going to have dancing. I can’t tell you how many birthday parties I went to where the radio was playing and every one was dancing and that included little kids too. It is just a part of the culture.
On Saturday morning after we had finished passing out the guitars we had our regular Bible Study. Now we had guitars so we had music and we could sing. On Saturday we started singing and one of our dear saints got up and started dancing. It wasn’t long before several of the ladies joined her. Before long I had joined, Karen had joined and even Terry McIntosh, who founded the Jesus House, joined in the dancing. Continue reading →
Our first apartment in Jericho was about 2 miles from the Jesus House. As the crow flies it probably wasn’t even a mile but we had to walk on the roads to the house. Our apartment was on the second floor of the building and it was quite nice.
It didn’t have a washing machine and there were no laundromats so I did laundry the old fashioned way, by hand. The Jesus House had a washing machine, so when I had a load of towels or jeans we called a taxi and took the clothes there to wash them.
doing laundry the old-fashioned way
One of the fun things about living at this apartment was the neighbors. The woman who lived downstairs with her son was really nice. We called her momma and her son’s name was Mohammed. Every evening they would sit outside and, since it was winter, they had a fire. Many of the neighbors came out to chat and the children would play in the street. Of course we didn’t know the language, but they always made us feel welcome when we joined them
Momma & Bob
Evening wasn’t the only time they sat outside. They sat out during the day too. Mohammed was crippled and couldn’t talk plain so he didn’t work. Many days he and momma would sit outside and neighbors would come and talk with them for awhile. There were opportunities for prayer for people and they let us pray with no problem. We prayed in the name of Jesus, but they didn’t care. We saw several healings.
Momma, son Mohammed, and a neighbor
After awhile the neighbors started bringing us food they cooked. Most of it was absolutely delicious. We figured some neighbors weren’t such great cooks because other neighbors brought us the same dish that was excellent.
While we lived there I so enjoyed the times together even if we didn’t understand each other. I also remembered when I was little and people sat outside and talked in the evening. I loved those times when all the kids played together and their parents talked.
Tales from the Mission Field 